Jimmy Pitaro Profile

Jimmy Pitaro is an attorney and an American media executive. The Walt Disney Company announced on March 2018 that he would become the president of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN). ESPN is a Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company-owned worldwide basic sports channel in the United States. ESPN broadcasts primarily from the studio in Bristol, Connecticut but has other auxiliary studios in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C, and Miami. Although ESPN is among the most successful sports networks, it has received various criticism, including conflict of interest, biased coverage, and controversies with individual analysts and broadcasters. Jimmy Pitaro is the current president of ESPN, a position he has held since the resignation of John Skipper. Therefore, the analysis of Jimmy Pitaro, as the president of a successful sports company, will shed light on his impact, leadership mechanisms, and his significance to sports organizations through innovation and previous work experience.

Responsibilities

Jimmy Pitaro is under a three-and-a-half-year contract with ESPN. He aims to help the network strategize ways to guide ESPN as viewers use various avenues to reach their channel, including streaming platforms, cable, and the New York Post reports (The Boardroom, 2022). This situation results in new challenges for Pitaro. Nonetheless, he has successfully transitioned in the initial phase after getting the position. Jimmy Pitaro's primary emphasis is ESPN's multimedia products, which include sports news, live sports programming, original and non-scripted sports-related material, digital, audio, social ventures, and sports-related content for Disney cable networks, ABC, and ESPN+. Pitaro was previously the director of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI) (James Pitaro, 2022). At that time, he had a history of leading consumer products-focused businesses, digital initiatives, and sports hence his significance to ESPN at a crucial point in its three-decade history. ESPN is at a pivotal point because it aims to continue being successful at a time of rapidly changing consumer habits and unprecedented technological advancements. DCPI is the largest global licenser of consumer products. Pitaro handled the creation of branded tangible and digital goods, such as a rich digital gaming slate, while employed there (James Pitaro, 2022). Pitaro effectively oversaw the restructuring of the gaming and digital media sector as a result. Pitaro previously worked at Yahoo, where he rose to the head of media and was in charge of developing strategies and implementing development initiatives for Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Music (James Pitaro, 2022). ESPN thus benefits from Pitaro's diverse expertise in working with major companies. 

Leadership Style

Pitaro is known for his successful leadership in digital initiatives, consumer products, and sports; hence he is quintessential for ESPN. As a visionary leader, he has identified five business priorities: innovation, direct-to-consumer, audience expansion, storytelling and programming, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in ESPN's ranks (Couch, 2022). By focusing on these aspects, he aims to ensure the sustainable success of ESPN. Pitaro's success as a leader can be attributed to his collaborative leadership style. His management practice intends to bring executives, managers, and staff together. Pitaro often seeks diverse opinions and ideas to find novel and unique ways to solve challenges (Couch, 2022). In this fast-paced world marked with technological advancement, this attribute is vital as emerging issues must be tackled immediately, effectively, and cost-effectively. Pitaro's leadership style, in turn, has resulted in impressive employee engagement and results because it creates an inclusive environment that fosters creativity, energizes teams, and develops a work culture that is joyful and productive (Couch, 2022). These results are evident in the exemplary performance of ESPN during the social justice movement and COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Nonetheless, the company continues to face improved performance. 

Accomplishments

ESPN has accomplished performance standards under Pitaro's direction. For instance, during the pandemic, the organization's imaginative and hardworking culture—inspired by Pitaro—led to the launch of The Last Dance, which broke ESPN's record for documentary viewing and earned the firm a Primetime Emmy Award for exceptional documentary non-fiction series (Couch, 2022). The business also successfully presented Fall Frenzy for Major League Baseball, worked with the National Football League (NFL) to create a virtual NFL Draft broadcast and contributed significantly to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando. ESPN has also secured innovative new rights arrangements under Pitaro with the National Football League (NFL), La Liga, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Tour, and Wimbledon (Couch, 2022). Other accomplishments include: incorporating Disney-wide assets; dominating cable in the key male and adult demographics; several rating triumphs with different series and shows, such as SportsCenter and Get Up; continual expansion in products and distribution; and direct-to-consumer service (Couch, 2022). Pitaro's emphasis on innovation has transformed how sports fans watch television thanks to programs like Sunday Night Baseball Series, in which Major League Baseball players are given microphones and Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli. Pitaro has received accolades since joining ESPN, including Sports Executive of the Year from Sports Business Journal and Multichannel News Sports Executive of the Year (Couch, 2022). Therefore, Pitaro's innovation and leadership have been economically beneficial for ESPN as it has improved employee productivity, increased collaboration with other major companies in sports, and resulted in venturing into new grounds that have garnered the attention of more viewers.

Pitaro’s Sports Betting Strategy

Sports broadcasting and betting have become integrated into the United States, with some companies placing this integration at their business’ core. This integration is because people who bet are more engaged with sports content and have a higher probability of watching for longer (McCaskill, 2022). Even ESPN is aware of the potential of this venture, as Pitaro suggested in his comments. Pitaro believes that integrating sports broadcasting with betting offers a growth opportunity for the company as it believes it can do more (McCaskill, 2022). He also claims that the company’s fans expect them to satisfy this need; hence it is a must-have strategy for ESPN. As a result, Pitaro has to get the implementation right.

However, ESPN and other media entities risk their credibility by exploring this venture. Although the company has tried to be transparent on this issue, critics have noted that ESPN is developing a branded studio inside Linq Hotel and Casino in collaboration with Caesars Entertainment (Hoffarth, 2019). In exchange, ESPN acquires Caesars’ data and branding in its programming. As Disney explores the betting market through ESPN, it leaves people wondering how something vilified for decades has become normalized (Hoffarth, 2019). Contrastingly, ESPN had previously prohibited its reporters from using team names and referring to odds to prevent adverse reactions from the leagues (Hoffarth, 2019). The change in these restrictions is thus indicative of the changing times.

Criticism and Controversy

Despite his impeccable leadership skills, Pitaro has been criticized for giving preferential treatment to black people in the organization. This criticism spurred from the appointment of Maria Taylor, an African American, as the host of NBA Countdown, ESPN's main pre- and post-game program (Zilber, 2021). Unfortunately, her white colleague Rachel Nichols complained that Taylor was selected because of her ethnicity and not her talent or experience. Pitaro then released a memo indirectly addressing these allegations and outlining ESPN's plans to discuss the employee concerns around including and diversity (Weprin, 2021). The memo was also tied to ESPN's Black Employee and Consumer Experience Initiative that ESPN launched under Pitaro's leadership (Weprin, 2021). The issue of diversity is a sensitive subject in most companies, hence the urgency in Pitaro's addressing of the issue and accusations.

Additionally, ESPN has been losing subscribers over the past years. A major reason for the decreased subscription is that fewer people are willing to subscribe to pay television, a phenomenon referred to as cord-cutting. As homes get more bundles of channels, it has become costly to pay for the typical pay-TV bill in America, a cost that has almost doubled in the past ten years to approximately 100 dollars per month (Sherman, 2021). Customers and potential customers are thus displeased. In contrast, sports fans get sports highlights on social media for free, and non-sports fans rely on Amazon and Netflix (Sherman, 2021). ESPN is thus the most expensive channel in this bundle, as the network gets approximately 8 dollars from every subscriber (Sherman, 2021). Therefore, there is a decrease in revenue as this issue keeps unfolding.

From the preceding, Jimmy Pitaro has leveraged his leadership skills, focus on innovation, and previous work experience in Disney and Yahoo to lead change in ESPN and improve the company. His innovative mindset has redefined how consumers watch sports and enabled the production of new content, spurring the company's economic growth. Pitaro uses a collaborative leadership style through which he has improved employee productivity and engagement. He is also a visionary leader who has set up ESPN for current and future successes through his identified priorities. Despite his numerous accomplishments, Pitaro has been accused of favoring marginalized groups in his diversity efforts, where he grants them opportunities despite not being qualified. However, he has effectively addressed these allegations. Overall, Pitaro is an asset for ESPN, which benefit from his diverse and successful work background.

References

Couch, T. (2022, September 8). James Pitaro. ESPN Press Room U.S. https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/james-pitaro/

Hoffarth. (2019). Column: ESPN and other media entities risk their credibility with sports betting deals. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sports-media-espn-caesars-gambling-20190519-story.html

James Pitaro. (2022, July 15). The Walt Disney Company. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/leaders/james-pitaro/

McCaskill. (2022). F1, betting and the World Cup. . . Is this a glimpse into ESPN’s strategy? Sports Media. https://www.sportspromedia.com/insights/james-pitaro-espn-f1-superbowl-world-cup/

Sherman, A. (2021, October 10). Disney’s shift to streaming puts ESPN in awkward position of clinging to the past. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/10/disney-shift-to-streaming-puts-espn-in-position-of-clinging-to-past.html